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Four oil company employees crash-land in the desert of North Africa. They have limited food and water, no radio, no way to repair the plane and, with no hope of rescue, face a slow death. Then one of the crew spots the antenna of a German tank from World War II sprouting from the sands. Digging down, they discover the ‘Steel Lady’ of the title, complete with mummified crew, lost in the dunes ten years before, out of water, fuel, and supplies, rather like themselves.

After burying the German crew, they attempt to repair their radio with parts from the tank's radio; only marginally successful, they manage to tell the outside world that they are alive, but can only pass on their latitude before the jury-rigged radio burns out.

It is then that they come up with a wild idea. If they could dig out and clean up the tank, they can use the petrol left in the plane to drive out of the desert.